Another major tunnelling milestone reached

04.03.2015

TBM2 Florence breaking through at Norwest Station.

Florence, the second massive North West Rail Link tunnel boring machine (TBM), today broke through into the new Norwest Station area. All four 900 tonne tunnel boring machines are now in the ground ahead of schedule and have dug more than 6 kilometres of their 30 kilometre journey.
The new design of Norwest Station, one of eight new state-of-the-art railway stations, has also been released. Norwest is one of the fastest growing employment centres in Sydney. About 15,000 people travel here for work every day, including from major Australian and international companies, and this is expected to increase to 30,000 by 2031.
New designs of Norwest Station
The station at Norwest is being built underground, with platforms about 20 metres beneath the surface of the booming Norwest Business Park.
Key features of the new Norwest Station include:

So far, more than 550,000 tonnes of crushed rock has been excavated by the four TBMs in the delivery of the twin 15kilometre tunnels from Bella Vista to Epping. Over the coming weeks, Florence will undergo maintenance as she is moved through the Norwest station area, before setting off again towards Showground station as the other three machines Elizabeth, Isabelle and Maria continue their work.